Chapter Seventeen

  I am in this extremely remote mountain village of Miwang, where the temperature is very low and goose feather-like snow is falling from the sky. General Han and I are staring at the military map on the table, General Han says: "Colonel, today's reconnaissance personnel reported that Xizang has gathered a considerable number of troops in the Kejie Lang area, with three different troop numbers discovered. It seems that Xizang will definitely take military action, and it's a big one."

  "Yes, that's right. The key is we don't know how many enemies are on the other side, whether there are any follow-up troops? What kind of firepower does the enemy have? We don't know any of this, so how can we fight?" I said with a furrowed brow.

  "It seems this battle is going to be tough!"

  "By the way, where did our brother unit go?"

  "Team 519 and Team 518 have arrived at their designated positions. Teams 516 and 515 are expected to arrive by tonight or early tomorrow morning."

  "Well, we have 5 teams now and the terrain is advantageous, at least we can hold on."

  "Comrade commander, are we defending our position? If we're defending, one battalion is enough. It's all mountains here, having more men would be a waste. I'm sure they're going to attack."

  I nodded. At this time, a staff officer came in and reported: "Commander, Chief of Staff, Eastern Commanding Officer Xiao has sent a telegram."

  "Oh!" I said: "Read."

  "Affirmative," said the staff officer. He opened the telegram and read: "In accordance with the needs of the war situation, with the approval of the Eastern Command and the Military Commission, the Forward Command of the Eastern Section is established. Comrade Tang Ning, commander of the 53rd Regiment, is appointed as the commander and political commissar of the Forward Command. Comrade Cheng Jinsan, commander of the 518th Regiment, is appointed as the deputy commander. Comrade Lan Jingjiang, commander of the 519th Regiment, is appointed as the chief of staff. The 518th Regiment will be commanded by its deputy commander, Comrade Ji Chu. The 519th Regiment will be commanded by its deputy commander, Comrade Kong Jie. Other positions in the Forward Command will be arranged and decided by the Forward Command and reported to the Eastern Command for approval. The Forward Command is established effective immediately, with its headquarters located at the 53rd Regiment. If there is a need to relocate the command post, it must be reported to the Eastern Command in a timely manner. The Forward Command must submit its battle plan to the Eastern Command by tomorrow. Signed, Xiao Zhiwei, Commander of the Eastern Command, October 4th, 2062."

  "Alright." I took over the telegram, read it through once, signed my name, and handed it back. The aide took it over and turned to leave.

  "How was it?" I asked Han Peng as I looked at him.

  "I think this is reasonable, my 53rd division, although it's just one division, but one division can be equivalent to two divisions, with over 4,000 people in the whole division. Moreover, the firepower configuration of my division is also the best among the existing five divisions. Who else should be the commander if not you?"

  "But what about my age and experience?"

  "This is not a big problem, the main thing is to win this battle, and once we win, there will be no more problems!"

  "Alright, okay."

  At noon, Comrades Cheng Jinyuan and Lan Jingjiang arrived. This way, all the leading members of the advance party were present. After a brief exchange of greetings, we immediately got down to business. We gathered around the map, studying the enemy's situation, but the specific intelligence was unclear. I thought for a moment with my head bowed and said: "How about this? Our three regiments each dispatch one company to form three reconnaissance squads to scout out the enemy's military situation. What do you think?"

  The deputy commander shook his head and said: "It's not suitable, now is not the time to go, and it's difficult to distinguish between enemy forces that are scattered all over."

  The chief advisor Lan continued: "This weather is also not suitable."

  I listened and bowed my head in contemplation, for a long time I said: "No way, the situation must be clarified! I think now we'd better come to an enemy not moving, I'm not moving, with static control dynamics. What do you think?"

  "Good is good, but it's been a long time, and for us, resupply is a problem! The mountain roads are difficult to navigate!"

  "I replied, 'The Western Expeditionary Army has been arrogant for a long time. If they have a large army and are eager to build their achievements, they will definitely attack within a short period of time. At that time, we will look for an opportunity to strike back and defeat them in one battle.'"

  "Okay."

  "Good."

  I see no dissent, so I said to Chief of Staff Han: "Old Han, you draft a report and submit it to the Eastern Headquarters."

  "Alright."

  At this time, the Western Army was in trouble. "These few days are terrible!" complained John P. Dalvi, commander of the 7th Infantry Brigade (reinforced with two battalions of the 4th Artillery Regiment) of the Western Army's 4th Division. The brigade had been transported to Dawang by truck and then marched on foot towards the Kekelong area after September 14. The 4th Division was the most famous elite unit in the Western Army, having participated in World War II under the command of Field Marshal Montgomery as part of the British Eighth Army, nicknamed "Red Eagle". The 7th Infantry Brigade had three infantry battalions and one rifle regiment (equivalent to a battalion) under its command: the 1/9 Gurkha Rifle Regiment, whose history dated back to 1823, with soldiers mostly from Nepal. The combat effectiveness of the Gurkha mercenaries was world-renowned, and the Gurkha Battalion in the British Army had once been an elite unit, the 2nd Rajput Regiment, established in 1898, with soldiers mostly from Rajasthan and Punjab in northeastern India, who claimed to be descendants of the ancient Indian warrior caste Kshatriya. The 9th Punjab Regiment was established in the mid-19th century, and the 4th Guards Battalion served as the mobile force for the 4th Division. In addition, there were some small artillery units equipped with 3-inch (76.2 mm) recoilless guns and 75mm mountain guns, totaling over 6 battalions and more than 6,000 men. The Western Army encountered considerable difficulties during its assembly, first due to the poor transportation conditions and harsh geographical environment in the area, which forced the 7th Brigade to lighten its load before ascending the mountains, leaving almost all heavy equipment on the plains. The local harvest season also made it impossible for the army to recruit civilian laborers to transport supplies, forcing Western soldiers to carry all their provisions during the long mountain march. Each soldier carried a load of nearly 35 kilograms; secondly, due to the hasty assembly, Western officers and men were only equipped with cotton autumn combat uniforms and canvas military boots in the freezing cold, with three soldiers sharing two blankets, resulting in a significant number of non-combat casualties, frostbite, and pulmonary edema being common. The 1/9 Gurkha Rifle Regiment had two soldiers die from pulmonary edema on the second day of departure, which to some extent dampened the morale of the Western Army. The Western Air Force attempted to solve the problem with airdrops, but the army claimed that at most only 20% of supplies reached the soldiers' hands. The problem lay in the parachutes and drop zones, as the Western Air Force reused parachutes to save money, rendering some parachutes completely useless. For unknown reasons, winter clothing and ammunition were not included on the airdrop manifests, only tent pegs and coal oil stored in 200-liter oil drums. Many oil drums rolled down the mountain slopes, especially those dropped by C-119 transport planes, which lost a large amount of supplies due to flying too fast.

  The 9th Gurkhas, who had set out earlier, arrived in the Kyelang Valley on September 14 after several days of forced marches. The 2nd Rajputs, 1/9th Gurkha Rifles, 6th Field Regiment and two medium machine gun companies of the 34th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery had reached Rumbak by then; the 4th Grenadiers arrived at Dawan. Chando, about six kilometers from Kyelang, was to be the tactical headquarters and logistics node for the 7th Brigade but concentration towards Chando was extremely difficult with troops moving slowly.

  Major General John P. Dalvi had not heard a single piece of good news since he arrived here, and in his heart, he cursed Lieutenant General Kaul, his superior, who formulated this damn plan. But he couldn't change all this, and could only pray for the best.